Red and Green
by Starlightlovesya123
Summary: Artemis has finally begun to earn her team's trust. But there's always that one nagging thought in the back of her mind: she only has three days. As she and the team are sent to Bhutran for an undercover mission, stakes are about to get higher. WallArt.
1. Make Daddy Proud

That night, there was no one to watch her as she fell. No one knew that she was twisting and turning in her bed, caught up in a dream that wouldn't release her. It held on, wrapping its claws around her and rattling her until it got its message across, a message that she wouldn't forget. Not for a very long time.

Her breaths were ragged as she pulled the covers tighter around her, grinding her teeth together. It would have been an odd sight for anyone who didn't know Artemis. But The Girl With The Arrows was no newcomer to nightmares.

Watching her, it was almost pathetic and terrifying at the same time. She would twist and mutter something, then open her mouth as if to cry out, only to shut it again. In the dream, it was not at all pathetic and _only_ terrifying.

She was running down a long, narrow hallway with emerald walls and cold tile floor. The hallway was endless, she already knew that, but she kept running anyway. From tiny cracks on either wall, little tendrils of sand poured into the hallway, blanketing the floor in maddening crystal bits that were already making it hard for her to keep her feet moving. It was as if she were caught in an hourglass that was counting down her death.

She drew an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back and attempted to plug up one of the holes, but it did no good. The hole simply opened its mouth wider, swallowing her arrow whole, and then, after a moment's pause, it continued to spill its guts of sand and shells.

The mixture was up to her knees now, making running impossible and walking difficult. She gasped for breath as one of her legs was pulled downwards and she lost her footing, tumbling headfirst into the sand. It filled her mouth and scratched her tongue, causing her to choke and gag, clawing at thin air in an attempt to right herself.

She drew another arrow, not really having any purpose to do so other than pure instinct. The arrow shot forward just as her arm was lost into the sea of sand, piercing itself into the green wall. It struck with a clang and stayed there, wobbling.

For a moment, everything completely froze. The sand stopped shifting around her and the holes immediately stopped pouring their contents into the hallway.

Then, as quickly as it all had stopped, the sand was no longer sand and the walls were no longer that bright and beautiful green. Instead, the walls became a bright and horrific red, and if Artemis hadn't of been desperately trying to breathe, she might have sworn that it seemed the walls were _pulsing. _As if they were the walls of a heart. A heart that was failing.

But she was distracted, as the sand around her was no longer coarse and scratchy, but instead was smooth as silk. In fact, it was no longer sand at all.

It was blood.

It ran, red and thick, over her hands and around her arms, soaking through her pants and shirt and mixing with the blonde of her hair. It ran like a river, like the wind, gushing from the gaping holes in the wall like looked like open wound. It ran across her face and covered her eyes so that all she could see was red, endless red.

* * *

><p>In the distance, she heard an awful, shudder-inducing scream. It would take her until that afternoon to realize that it had been her own.<p>

* * *

><p>She awoke immediately, gasping and lunging forward, her fingers knotted into her sheets, her hair a tangled disaster. Her heart was beating like a racehorse, and for that reason, she hated herself. She cursed under her breath and threw the sheets back disgustedly.<p>

"Jesus," she muttered, swinging her legs over the side of her bed and standing up. "I'm going to kill myself one of these days, with these dreams. I really am."

She stepped down, barefoot, to the cold blue linoleum floor and made her way to her joke of a bathroom, a shabby little thing with concrete walls and a partially cracked mirror. She turned on the faucet and lightly splashed her face with warm water. The face in the mirror was ghastly and hardly her own. Water dripped down her cheeks like tears, falling down from her angled, blue-grey eyes.

A shower. What she needed was a shower. It was early enough in the morning. Wiping her hands down her face and groaning, she began to pull off her shirt.

A cough coming from the hallway outside her room made her freeze. Her right hand shot instinctively for her arrows, although the quiver was, of course, not attached to her back. Then she relaxed as she heard the cough again.

_Dad_, she thought, letting out the breath she had been holding. _Dad's just home early._

Except, Dad was never home early. Unless…

She stuck her head out the bathroom doorway and glanced at the alarm clock on her nightstand. In bright, red, mocking numbers it proudly declared _10:00 AM._

"Shit!" she squeaked, turning on her heel and diving back to her mirror, streaking a comb through her hair. Lovely. Just _lovely_. Now everyone at the Mount was going to be even more suspicious than usual.

Once her hair was somewhat presentable, she threw it into a rough ponytail while sticking her toothbrush into her mouth. On a normal day, the sight of her fast-moving hands and the ridiculous amounts of multi-tasking might have made her laugh. But, one: she was angry. Two: Dad was home. And three? Today was not a normal day. That had been easy enough to tell just from the dream she had had.

Racing out of the bathroom with the toothbrush still between her clamped teeth, she pulled on a pair of old jeans and a green cardigan inside her tiny closet. Running back out, she shoved her alarm clock aside with annoyance as it reminded her yet again that, oh boy, you're late, you're late for a very important date. Better get going, missy, you're late, you're late, you're late.

Tossing the toothbrush in the sink and not even bothering to take another look in the mirror, she grabbed her purse and ran out into the hallway. If she could make the next bus to Happy Harbor, she might be able to conjure some kind of reasonable excuse for being three hours late.

Instead, she practically skidded to a stop. Her toes dug into the green carpet and she fell silent, listening. She had heard her father's footsteps around the corner. And, God knows, the last thing she wanted to do right now was get into another debriefing with him. _You need to do this, Artemis, careful not to do that, Artemis. Look me in the eyes, Artemis, stop being so weak and scared. You knew you had to do this, now do it, Artemis. _

She frowned and pushed this thought aside. Rising up on her toes, she crept forward down the hallway, biting the inside of her lip. Dad would likely be in the work-out room at this time in the morning. Of course he would. Sportsmaster wasn't just a name for him—it was a lifestyle. So if she could run past the kitchen without making too much noise, she would be able—

"Artemis."

Out of pure instinct, she did not allow the shriek to pass out of her throat. Instead, she made a strange, choked gasp and whirled around.

Dad had never been all that hard to spot in a crowd. He was a large man, somewhere close to 6'5" (Artemis didn't know and didn't care), with a generally wide frame, broad shoulders, large, muscular arms. His eyes were small and a very light brown that wasn't the nice, milk-chocolate color Artemis wished they were. Instead, they were rather unnerving. Like, if they got any lighter or any more intense, they would simply turn red.

His hair was the exact shade of hers, a less saturated yellow the color of sun-lit wheat. It was cut short against his scalp, messy upon the top of his head. But it wasn't like that meant anything. Dad never combed his hair.

He was staring at Artemis with that expressionless, almost blank look that made his eyes look bigger than they were. In its odd way, it made him even more terrifying than he already was.

"D-Dad?" she asked, laughing nervously and standing up straight. "What's the matter?"

"Where are you in such a rush to?" His expression didn't change, but the tone of his voice said enough. He was reminding her yet again. Of her mission.

"I have to get to HQ. I'm late. Overslept," she told him, meeting his gaze with her own, hostile one. It was the largest amount of disrespect she dared give to her father at this point.

"Mm." He walked past her, heading towards the kitchen. She immediately followed behind, watching the back of his navy blue shirt. "What's going on today?"

"I'm not sure. But it's big. I'll be sure to tell you."

"That you will. I don't want another Bialya fiasco."

Of course. Bialya. She and her teammates had lost their memories and Artemis had made what her father considered an awful mistake. She had let a mind-reading teammate into her mind, hoping to place together what had happened to them.

"That green girl—" Dad continued.

"Miss Martian," Artemis cut in, not really knowing the reason why.

"I don't care what her name is." Lawrence Crock turned his head to look at his daughter. "She went into your head and for God knows what reason you let her. You almost put the whole operation in danger," he told her. And yet his voice still remained on the same timbre it had started with.

"I didn't have a choice. They needed my memories to piece—"

"Shut up, Artemis, and stop acting like one of them. You know there were other ways."

She fell silent, but kept her eyes defiantly set against his.

"Go," he told her, waving his hand dismissively. "But remember." He held up three of the fingers of his left hand. "Three days." His eyes flicked to the corner of the room, where a small piece of equipment had been laid carefully on the shelf. "Don't forget your bow."

She followed his gaze. "I won't."

"Good girl. Make your daddy proud," he told her, smiling in a way that wasn't at all comforting. Then he turned around and swept out of the room, leaving her standing there with clenched fists and even more unease.

_That's what I've been trying to do since the day I met you, _Artemis thought. She closed her eyes and exhaled, then turned around to look outside the window. Bright, clear day. And two hours late. Three, if she didn't get going.

Shaking her head, she grabbed the piece of equipment on the shelf and tucked it in her purse.

_And so it begins._

* * *

><p>Wally West looked up from the magazine he had been reading, as a sudden light filled the training room. The portal door flashed white light and announced "<em><strong>Artemis. B-23<strong>_**," **as the shape of a young woman began to form and materialize, finally becoming the full-fledged figure of Artemis. She had one hand on her hip and was dressed in civilian clothes, her hair swept back into what Wally assumed passed for a ponytail. There were bags under her eyes and a cut along her left cheek that he hadn't seen last Friday. Meaning it was fresh, new, had happened this weekend.

"Oh, _finally_, here comes our Sleeping Beauty," he muttered loud enough for his teammates to hear, and stood up from where he had been sitting in a red armchair. "Decided to join us, huh?"

"Shut up, Wally," Artemis shot at him without even looking. She walked straight forward to where Batman and Red Tornado were standing, neither one of them looking pleased. Of course, the latter was an android and the former never looked pleased anyway.

"Where have you been?" Batman asked, his arms crossed and the white slits in his mask, where his eyes were, narrowed.

"There was a robbery on 32nd street and I was driving my mother to work. What was I supposed to do, sit there and watch it happen?" she replied smoothly. There had indeed been a robbery on 32nd street. Of course she had checked. But she had in no way helped catch the criminal who had done it.

"And you caught the criminal?" Megan asked, walking up to Artemis and smiling. "That's excellent work, Artemis."

"More like slow work," Wally interjected, snorting. "Who takes three hours to catch a common thief?"

"I told you I was driving my mother to work," Artemis said. "She works in Empire City, Wally, and in case you didn't know, that's an hour away from Happy Harbor. An hour driving, an hour catching the criminal, an hour driving back here. Go back to Kindergarten and maybe you'll know what I'm talking about." Artemis rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"It still doesn't excuse the fact that you gave us no notice," Batman told her, cutting Wally off before the speedster could even begin his reply. "And you are well-aware that today is vital."

"We were worried that something had happened to you. It is not unlikely that one of us could become caught in a trap," Kaldur told Artemis, standing a few feet away from Wally.

"I know. And I'm sorry. It was a rough morning." Artemis turned to Batman, meeting his gaze. "But we can stop wasting time if you would fill me in now."

Batman's eyes narrowed at the edge of disrespect to her tone, but he turned around and faced the large computer screen that took up the center of the room. A map of the world filled the screen and then zoomed forward at a dizzying speed, reaching its point of interest after a few seconds. A red dot flashed upon a small chunk of green, indicating a country by the name of Bhutran. It was located in Southern Asia, an inland country surrounded by mountains.

"This is Bhutran, located near the border of China and home to an ancient clash between government officials and ancient monasteries," Batman told the team, as they gathered more closely around the computer screen. The screen zoomed in further, displaying images of fields and one city, with large, sloping domes and buildings that looked almost comically like Ancient China. Except that it had been modernized, in a way, with lights lining each edge of each building, and even what the team supposed passed for a skyscraper in the left corner of the image.

"This is where you will be headed," Batman continued, "and where you will be staying for the next few days."

Artemis glanced away at this point, her eyes flicking to Batman. _Days? _she thought, trying to force down the sudden rise of panic she felt.

_Three days, _her father had told her. _Three days._

Ropen opened his wrist computer and started copying images from the large screen to his own. "What exactly are we supposed to do there?" he asked.

"There's been an uprise in violence between the officials and monasteries within the past few weeks, and the League doesn't think it's a coincidence that, only two weeks ago, we discovered Kobra Venom in Santa Prisca," Batman explained.

"Kobra Venom, of course." Robin nodded, pulling up another image on his screen. This one displayed a small case of purple, bubbling liquid that reminded Artemis of grape soda. "The mixture of the Blockbuster formula and the Venom we found in Santa Prisca."

"The neo-steroid that enhanced strength?" Artemis asked, looking back up at the computer screen. As if she didn't already know. Her father had gotten his hands on a case of it and told her everything about it. It was like a high-priced gem, and equally as corrupting.

"It more than enhances strength. It enhances everything. Basically, it turns you into a Super or a Meta or whatever," Robin explained. "But it's only temporary. And it's extremely life-threatening and illegal pretty much everywhere."

Wally smirked. "Perfect. Sounds like something every villain from here to Krypton would love."

"It's the kind of drug that would be transported quickly and under very intense security," Batman resumed. He frowned. "And it would be well-hidden."

"What do you mean?" Superboy asked, finally deciding to join in the conversation. He had been sitting to the side with his hands in his jean pockets, watching Artemis uneasily. He didn't like the way she had told her alibi earlier. It sounded too much like the lies the people of Cadmus used to tell him, before he had escaped.

Batman drew up an image of a Bhutran monastery on the screen. "Meaning that if so-called 'monks' in Bhutran wanted their hands on the Kobra Venom, they would easily be able to conceal it as part of their 'religious practices'," The Dark Knight said. "For instance, using it in rituals and potions. Carefully, of course, so that it wouldn't be too conspicuous. But using it all the same. Bhutran's government is unstable enough, and if any official tried to change the religious ways of its people, the riots and protests would be catastrophic."

"Basically, the monks can get away with anything. Including creating super-powered weapons out of normal people," Artemis concluded, crossing her arms. "So you want us to go in and investigate."

"Yes," Batman replied, looking away from the screen and at her. "But in separate groups. There are different areas the League wants to check, and the Bhutranese don't view Americans kindly. Concealment will be everything. All radio communication will need to be through Miss Martian, as it was in Bialya."

Miss Martian nodded, and a strange noise like the buzzing of a bee passed through all of the team member's minds. It lasted for a total of three seconds, then disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"The network is up," she told Batman, having connected their thoughts.

"Good." He gave a stiff nod, then turned back to the screen and pulled up images of each of their faces. "The groups will be as follows: Aqualad and Superboy. Miss Martian and Robin. Artemis and Kid Flash."

Artemis stifled a groan. The absolute _last _thing she needed was Wally's antics slowing her down on this mission. She needed to move smoothly, work quickly, and most definitely _not _get side-tracked by a skinny red-head with an uncanny knack for bad pick-up lines and stupid charm.

"Well, look at us. Looks like it's Bialya all over again, Ninja girlfriend," Wally said slyly, sneaking beside Artemis and elbowing her in the ribs. She ignored him.

"Get suited up and meet here for further details," Batman instructed. "Bhutran's dangerous, and not just your typical dangerous. The League doesn't know nearly as much about the country as it would like. You're heading into enemy territory now. It's going to be a long week."

As the others walked away to get changed and packed, Artemis sighed. _You're telling me, _she thought, watching as Batman continued to assort images and information on the computer screen.

_Three days. _

It rang in her head like an alarm, along with the image of those walls from her dream. The walls that had pulsed like a heart, changing from green to red.

_Three days. _

With one last look, she turned away to go get ready.


	2. Poker Face

Packing lightly had never been a problem for Artemis. She wasn't the type of girl who needed twenty pairs of shoes for a week's vacation. No, a few t-shirts, a couple pairs of shorts, and her costume would suit just fine. Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant. Hairbrush. The works.

And her bow. Yes, of course, she would need her bow.

She glanced over to her right, where a stack of medium-sized metal boxes, painted green, rested on the berber carpet. She crawled over to them, carefully taking one into her lap and pressing the concealed button on its side. It unfolded immediately, its edges sliding out and shifting until the box was no longer a box but a bow.

She sighed, running a finger down the smooth surface of the handle and then pinching the string. Tight, strong. The strongest that money could buy, of course. Courtesy of Green Arrow, but fixed up with a few modifications by her father.

Artemis condensed the bow back into box-form and picked up two others, her favorites, placing them carefully in her bag. Then she slung it over her shoulder and walked out into the hallway, heading towards the Mount Justice living room.

Naturally, Robin, Wally, and Megan were sitting on the couch, looking over at the TV, each holding a slender sheet of paper. There was a Clue board on the coffee table, accompanied by a few cans of soda and some popcorn. Wally was studying his sheet with a rather amusing ferocity, while Megan merely looked confused.

"I don't understand," she said, pointing a green finger towards the playing board. "If_ I'm_ Professor Plum, why am I a suspect? I promise, I never committed any crime. I never made Professor Plum commit a crime either." She looked genuinely worried that this game might get her thrown in jail.

Robin, who was leaning against the couch with his arms slung behind his neck, looking overly pleased with himself, replied, "It's just pretend, Megan. You're pretending to be Professor Plum, who might have done a crime." His overly pleased look turned to one of outright smugness. "You know, in the living room at dawn with the revolver."

Wally's eyes widened and he turned to stare at the Boy Wonder. "You figured it out _already?"_

"Ah, come on, Wal, this one's easy," Robin said, sighing and sitting up, gesturing to his notes. "Miss Scarlet wore her scarab broach at breakfast. That means it wasn't the scarab broach. Mr. Green was found unconscious just before breakfast in a secret passageway, connecting between the study and the living room. Professor Plum was putting together a jewelry exhibit. That means—"

Wally threw his hands in the air, causing the cards he had been holding to scatter. They rained down in front of him like leaves from a tree. "That's it, I don't even care anymore." He scrutinized Robin moodily. "You have an unfair advantage because you were taught by the World's Greatest Detective."

"Yeah, and I also happen to have a small speck of common sense," Robin replied. His lips twitched into a wry smile.

"I honestly don't know how I've put up with you this long."

"I honestly don't know how you've ever been able to solve a crime without Flash's help."

"Hey! I caught Captain Cold red-handed the other day by the—"

"Oh, come _on, _Wally! You heard a bank alarm going off, investigated, and found Cold's calling card! It doesn't exactly take expert detective skills to figure out who did it!"

"It could have been—"

Artemis figured this was as good a time as any to interrupt. "Ahem," she coughed, standing behind the couch and smirking.

Wally stopped mid-sentence and turned around to look at her. "Oh, it's you," he said, blinking at her with a smile that only really touched his lips.

"Yeah, it's me." She rolled her eyes and threw her bag up onto the top of the couch. "You guys know when we're heading out? I need to run by my mom's, tell her I'm gonna be gone for the next few days."

"We're leavin' at 7:00," Robin said. "Can't you just call her?"

"I left my favorite bow there," Artemis lied, "since I didn't know we would be heading out to the middle of nowhere for a period longer than 24 hours."

The black-haired boy nodded, giving her a thumbs up and a grin, then turned back to the Clue board. Of course, he immediately recommenced his argument with Wally about unfair advantages and Robin's uncanny ability to belittle Wally in just about everything. Artemis slung her bag back over her shoulder and walked out of the room, heading towards the teleportation center that would get her to Gotham quickest.

Best she get this over with as fast as possible. The others would get suspicious if it took too long.

And, besides. She wanted it over with more than anything. _God, _she just wanted this whole thing done. Better yet, she wanted it gone. Out of her life. See ya, bubye, so long!

She tightened her grip on the Velcro strap of her bag and put on her best poker face. Being Artemis, however, did have its benefits.

She had a damn good poker face.

* * *

><p>Standing in the living room of her father's house, Artemis dropped her bag onto the redwood kitchen floors with a <em>thump. <em>

"Dad?" she called, peering down the hallway.

The house was dark, but she knew he was here. The refrigerator door was cracked and the back window was open. The partially-opened fridge was meant as a signal to Cheshire, that he wanted to see her tonight but at a different location than the house. The open window was so that she could slip in her message, telling him with a simple, scribbled "Yes" or "No" on a slip of paper whether or not she could come.

Artemis knew that, because it had been the system since she'd been young and naïve and foolish. Jade, AKA Cheshire, used to come nearly every day, with her little scraps of paper or half-eaten leaves with fancy, cursive "Yes" or "No". Sometimes there was even old-fashioned papyrus. The messages used to excite little Artemis, who would grab the scrap and run it to her father down the hall.

_And, of course, the window meant an ability to sneak out, _Artemis thought. It had been something she did constantly when she was young, when she thought her father hadn't noticed. She had gone somewhere, but…she couldn't quite remember—

"Artemis."

This time he didn't surprise her; she had heard his footsteps coming up behind her. She was getting better at this.

Her lips curved into a grin.

She whirled around and threw a punch at the right side of his face, immediately ducking down and swiping a leg against the back of his knees. He dodged the punch with ease, but had to steady himself against the kick. He jabbed at her, which she blocked, then threw an elbow into her side. She grunted, keeling over, then tried again with a high-raised kick that accentuated her long, lean leg.

Just a typical Crock family greeting.

"Good," Lawrence Crock told her calmly, as she got a solid fist against his shoulder. "You're improving."

"This," she replied, spinning around and sending a kick at him, which he caught with one hand and tossed aside like it was a piece of trash, "is nothing. Black Canary's taught us a lot, Dad."

"Mm, so I've heard."

Jab. Kick.

"You going to ask me why I'm here?"

Punch. Block.

"I already know."

That caught her off guard. She stopped for a second, bringing her hands down, and his fist connected with her face, knocking her backwards and leaving what would become a nice bruise beneath her left eye.

_Great, _she thought. _Now I have to come up with _another_ lie for the team to fall for way too easily. _

It bothered her, how true that statement was. The rest of Young Justice was eating up every word she said, like she was some sort of angel who happened to have a more-than-mysterious past and an unfriendly demeanor to boot.

"You know why I'm here?" she asked, getting back up on her feet.

Her father nodded, his eerie brown eyes glinting. "You're heading to Bhutran to investigate Kobra Venom. It wasn't hard to figure out, Artemis. Things are getting suspicious over there, the League is naturally going to try and investigate."

"You know more than you're saying." She eyed him straight-on, proud that she knew her father this well. It took a liar to know one.

He held her gaze, his face mostly unchanged. But Artemis had caught the ever-so-slight raise of his eyebrows. He was impressed. Good.

"I know you're heading to Bhutran because we've been investigating Bhutran ourselves, over the last few weeks." He turned from her and started walking down the hallway, flicking on the light switch as he did such.

She followed him. "You have?"

"We've known about Kobra Venom since before Santa Prisca, but Bhutran never entered the picture until it started becoming so incessantly obvious. The monks are doing a pathetically horrible job of concealing their experiments."

"Their weapons," Artemis corrected. The words sounded strange on her tongue, like a secret that should have been _kept_ secret.

"Yes, their weapons," Lawrence acknowledged. "So we went in a few weeks ago, cleaned some things up, started drafting. But, of course, the Justice League still nosed their asses into the clearing and now any kind of association with the so-called monks is difficult over there."

Artemis took a moment to process this, following her father into his makeshift study in the duplex she used to live in as a child. "Why didn't you tell me any of this? I was here earlier today, you should have told me then."

He started to sift through papers on his desk. "Because you didn't need to until now. I was waiting for the JLA to get your team involved before I trusted you with more crucial information."

That stung. Of course it did. But she stood her ground and only allowed her fists to clench. Nothing more.

_Can't read my poker face._

"So how does my part play?" she asked, realizing suddenly that, with her being in Bhutran, her father's plan had to have changed. Maybe she had more time before the total betrayal began.

Hope bloomed in her chest before she could stop it. She knew she was only prolonging the inevitable, but maybe if she had more time, maybe if she—

"It hasn't," he told her, as he bent over a file cabinet and pulled out a single envelope.

She blinked, the hope disappearing, immediately replaced by a cold sense of dread. It seeped through her skin like blood through a white shirt, like the ones in the old Renaissance movies Artemis used to watch with her mother. "I…don't understand. Dad, I'm going to be in Bhutran. Not here in—I can't—"

He shot her a look in the dark and she silenced immediately.

When most people thought "icy" eyes, they thought of a very light blue, a blue that was almost white. Like snowflakes in a storm. But, no, Artemis' father's eyes were a light brown, and they were the iciest thing she'd ever seen.

"The plan hasn't changed, Artemis. You'll still be a part of the fight." When she was about to protest, he opened the envelope and slid the contents out into his palm. It was a small, thin, metallic box, painted crimson, not unlike the boxes her bows compressed into. He looked up to meet her gaze. "Now the fight's just going to happen in a different place."

Her eyes widened. "You're coming to Bhutran?"

"Of course we are, Artemis. Don't be stupid."

"I don't—"

Lawrence took her hand roughly, and put the small box into her palm. He held up his hands and counted off the fingers. "On the first day, you gather as much Intel as you possibly can. You send it to us using that." He pointed to the box, which had started to vibrate lightly against her skin. "It recognizes your DNA pattern and will respond to your voice commands. It's designed to look like one of your compressed bows, in order to avoid any suspicion. I trust you'll be smart enough to know when to and when not to use it?"

She nodded, but her eyes narrowed. She hated this. She hated all of this. She hated _him, _this man who stood in front of her, practically a half-giant, who hid behind his mask and controlled her like a ventriloquist, like she was a puppet. And he did it so _easily. _

Because she didn't hate him. She loved him and she didn't know why.

His second finger shot up. "On the second day, you start deliveries." He closed the file cabinet and re-locked it, taking a stack of papers from off the ground and throwing them onto the desk haphazardly. Many of them were labeled 'Kingston and Company', implying that her father worked for a business and wasn't a criminal at large.

"I'll send you different rendezvous points for you to meet Jade and deliver materials," he continued after he'd done this. "She'll give you further orders."

Artemis had to resist the urge to snarl back at this. She couldn't _stand _Jade. But that wasn't the worst part; not by far.

"And on the third day, you let us in. You know what that means."

Yes. Yes, she knew what that meant.

"Who have you been paired with?" he asked, turning away again. "On your mission, I mean."

"Wally," she muttered, tightly holding onto the disguised communicator. It felt hot in her hands, but not like it was warm. More like she was a little kid and it was the piece of candy she'd stolen from the grocery store, the one she hadn't told Mommy and Daddy about.

Except Daddy knew all about it. He'd seen her steal the candy, had encouraged it happening. _Good girl, Artemis. Go on, steal it. Every time you get away with it, I'm proud, because it's all my doing, all my training. But as soon as you get caught? Huh. I don't even know you._

"Good," Lawrence replied. He nodded to himself. "Him first."

The two words were said so casually that, at first, she didn't really catch them. She almost mistook it for more parent talk. _Okay, Dad, whatever, I got it._ But, no, this wasn't just parent talk. It was an order, an incredibly important order, one that brought her back to the crushing reality of this situation.

_Wally. _Wally _first._

For a moment, she just stood there, her fingers still clasped around the little box, the arrow on her chest pointing up to her blank face. "…What?"

"Him first. It makes sense; he'll be the one you're with the most," he told her, noticing the way her face had gone a shade paler. "Plus he's been a pain in my side for long enough, it's about time we got something figured out about him. And I mean that. I want it _figured out._"

"But, Dad, he—I thought I was going to—"

"You don't have a problem with it, do you, Artemis?" Again, the brown eyes that should have been blue thrust themselves into her like hollow point bullets.

_Brrr._

Suddenly, she was furious. More than furious. She felt downright sick with disgust and anger and frustration, nauseous with all the thoughts swimming through her head. The muscles in her arms tightened and she squeezed her fingers over the box, shooting her own steely eyes back at her father.

"No. No problem at all," she said coldly.

"Good. Now go."

She did.

* * *

><p>By the time Artemis got back to Mount Justice, the BioShip was already loaded up and ready to go. Kaldur was standing near the front of the ship with a couple of old-fashioned suitcases in his hands, looking like an old navy sailor about to go abroad. It might have made her smile, had Artemis been having a better day.<p>

"Are you almost ready?" he asked her kindly, as she walked towards him, carrying her own pack.

"Yeah," she replied, knowing she sounded exhausted. Probably because she was.

"Good, because we should probably be going soon," he said, glancing over at the oversized digital clock on the left wall. "It is going to be about a 12 to 13 hour flight, even with the added speed of Miss Martian's BioShip."

Artemis nodded, having taken plenty of flights to China and surrounding areas before. She had been born in Vietnam, after all. It seemed light-years away.

"I'll be right back, just have to grab something from my room," she said, then turned away before he could reply. She needed time to gather herself for a moment, to take a deep breath before she set out on this journey or trip or mission or whatever it was.

She needed time to fully accept what, exactly, she was about to do.

She turned the corner, running a hand through her thick hair, squeezing on the tip of the ponytail and sighing. Her eyes trailed down to her feet, the slim black boots with the folded cuff—_almost like socks, _she mused.

Thus distracted, she didn't see who was walking in the opposite direction, and apparently he didn't either, because the two of them walked smack into one another without so much as a sudden gasp.

It took her a second to reorient herself and realize just who she had blindly collided with. Of course, it wasn't difficult. You could be half-blind and still recognize that sharp orange hair or the devious green eyes.

Wally blinked at her, also disoriented. "I—oh, uh—sorry. I wasn't looking."

"I wasn't either," she replied, distracted. She was experiencing flashes of the dream she'd had the night before, as she looked at him. The pulsing walls, green to red.

He smiled sheepishly, but then it faded as he looked at her more closely. "Jeez, Sleeping Beauty. That criminal must have done a number on you this morning," he said, his tone teasing but now laced with what Artemis almost thought was concern. "I thought it had been an 'easy case'," he jabbed, putting his fingers up and mimicking quotation marks.

"Huh?" She placed a hand on her hip and tried to appear defensive. But she was too tired and anxious, she knew, to look anything but flustered. Like a peacock that'd lost its feathers and was desperately trying to find them.

Wally pointed at her face, losing the smirk. "There's a nasty bruise under your eye. Left one," he clarified, as her fingers moved up to feel her skin.

Crap. She'd completely forgotten about the hit her father had gotten in.

"Oh. Uh, it's nothing. Just…yeah, the criminal got in a punch."

"A common thief got in a punch?" The smirk came back, as Artemis had known it would. "I thought you were more evasive than that."

"Oh, shut up." She pushed his shoulder aside, knocking him out of the way so that she could walk through the hallway.

"Hey, wait."

She stopped, running a hand over her face. She didn't need this, not right now. Wally was the _last _person she wanted to talk to now. Everything about him screamed wrong at this moment, screamed bad, screamed nightmares.

"I'm just kidding, okay? Seriously, stop taking everything so literally. It's annoying," he told her, walking back to her side. "You should know by now I like teasing people."

"Yeah, and _that's _pretty annoying too, Wally. You should know that by now," she said, resisting the almost painful urge to roll her eyes.

To her immense shock, he grinned at her clever retort. "Come on," he said, "we're going to be partners so you might as well stop pretending you hate me."

"I do hate you."

"Well, I hate you too, so I guess that means we're even."

She let out a final, defeated sigh. "Okay, _partner. _Take my suitcase and put it in the ship."

"Pssh. I'm your partner, I never said I was your _butler. _Good God, what are you? Some kind of slave-driver? Is that what partners are to you?"

"Get in the ship. Just get in the ship right now, before I—before I—"

"Ah, crap, she's gonna blow!" Wally shouted, turning around and beaming at her as he sped away. Before he turned the corner, he raised a hand to his forehead and saluted her.

The. Laughing. Arrogant. _Idiot._

How she was going to survive being assigned with him, she hadn't the slightest idea.

This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note:<em>

_So here it finally is, right before the start of school! Still not a lot of plot action yet, I know, but it's coming. Next chappy they finally get to Bhutran, which I'm thrilled about writing because I love describing and creating different countries._

_Anyway! I'd like to make a quick point. This story _will _be connected to a previous story I wrote called "Littleton Park." I would very much appreciate if you read that story as well, if you're going to stay on with this one. Trust me, it will help you understand much better. You can find "Littleton Park" under "My Stories" on my profile. Thank you!_


End file.
